I wanted to share something that has been working really well for me to improve bowing tone. I was reading about an old-time, late 19th century fiddler who was blind. I started thinking about how difficult it would be to learn the planes of the bow if you couldn’t see. So I started doing the “Stop and Rock” with my eyes closed, and basically all bowing exercises. At first I found it hard because I kept sliding off to the side, but after a while my mind started to listen instead of see. So I heard when I started to slide and immediately corrected. Anyway, in the long run, it taught me to listen to tone more, when I wasn’t distracted by having my eyes glued on the bow, and more importantly I noticed I started to learn the feel of the planes very quickly. So then I added the 3 “in-between” planes, where you bow two strings. Now I add Blind Time to every practice, and it really improved me. It all came together fast. Hope it helps someone else.
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